During yesterday’s discussion about the value of a college education, several people noted that it’s difficult to decide what to study when you don’t know what you want to do with your life. This reminded me of a recent question from the Get Rich Slowly discussion forums. Shaun wants to know: How do you find work that you love?
It’s been said, “If you love your job, you’ll never work a day in your life.” But what happens when you can’t figure out what you’d love to do?
I’ve been trying to figure out “what I wanna be when I grow up” for over ten years, and I still have no idea. I’m driving a delivery truck now. No offense, but any dummy can do my job. I feel like I’m wasting away doing this. I could be doing so much more, but I don’t know what I want to do.
Going back to college for a four-year degree is not an option. I spent four years in college already, in which I tried three different majors. I have around $19,000 in student loans and no diploma to show for it.
Here’s what I do know: I like dealing with people. I like working with numbers. I really enjoy sitting down and making budgets and things like that. I’ve always done very well in math in school. I liked the accounting and business classes I took while I was in college, but hated any type of English class.
Any advice? I’m stuck in a rut.
Some people are lucky and know what they want to do early. For example, my wife always loved science. Kris majored in chemistry, and then found a job teaching at a nearby high school. She liked the work, but after eight years she decided to try something else.
She’d always wanted to be a forensic chemist, so she researched the job and decided it might actually be a good fit. She took a couple of classes, from which she was able to learn that the job did indeed match her strengths. Now she works for the state police crime lab. She loves her work.
I wasn’t so fortunate. I floundered in college, searching for something I truly enjoyed. I never found it. After working the worst job I ever had, I wound up selling boxes for the family business. This was safe, but it wasn’t fulfilling, and it didn’t call upon my strengths. Still, I stuck with the position for sixteen years. It was only when I realized that I could make a living through writing that I understood I’d been cheating myself. Now I, too, am moving toward meaningful work.
But how can you find meaningful work without spending sixteen years selling boxes? Or ten years driving truck? I don’t know. I’m not sure anybody does. In a fantastic essay entitled “How to do what you love”, Paul Graham writes:
Finding work you love is very difficult. Most people fail. Even if you succeed, it’s rare to be free to work on what you want till your thirties or forties. But if you have the destination in sight you’ll be more likely to arrive at it. If you know you can love work, you’re in the home stretch, and if you know what work you love, you’re practically there.
Surely some of you have found fulfilling work. How did you do it? Like Kris, have you always known what you wanted to do? Did you sort of stumble into it, like I did? Or have you given up hope of ever finding a job that you love? More importantly, what advice do you have for Shaun?
GRS is committed to helping our readers save and achieve your financial goals.Savings interest rates may be low, but that’s all the more reason to shop for the best rate.Find the highest savings interest rate from Ally Bank, Capital One 360, Everbank, and more.
This article is about Ask the Readers, Career
Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by American Express. Opinions expressed here are author's alone, not those of American Express, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by American Express. This site may be compensated through American Express Affiliate Program.
Discover is a paid advertiser of this site. Reasonable efforts are made to maintain accurate information. See the Discover online credit card application for full terms and conditions on offers and rewards.
SEARCH FOR RECENT ARTICLES
I found the job I love doing mostly by accident. A friend jokingly suggested it to me, then another, then another until I finally decided to find out more about it and give it a try for myself. It was something I never saw myself in but it fits me.
A job that utilizes your strengths, involves one or more of your passions, and has a working environment and situation you mostly enjoy is the most likely to be a good fit long-term. I think there’s an element of fate or chance that comes in but the most important thing is watching for patterns in your life and taking those chances when they’re offered. You never know what will happen.
Best advice? If you know you hate it, and I don’t mean dislike (no one loves their job all the time), I mean hate – if the job makes you feel crazy and angry and desperate and turns you into someone you don’t know – quit. The more time you waste in the wrong place the less time you have to do what’s right.
For Shaun specifically – take one of those tax preparation courses H&R Block offer. They use these as a recruitment tool, so if you enjoy it, ask them what you’d have to do to help out with tax prep during the busy seasons. This combines dealing with people, accounting, and working with numbers and fits your criteria of not requiring a degree. You’ll be able to find out what you like and don’t like about that application of people skills and number skills without a big financial, contractual, or time commitment and the contacts you make might be able to point you in other directions. Try things and see what works – you might enjoy just diving into the work and ruling things out better than sitting in a classroom.
You might also consider doing a 2-year in accounting (if you’re not ruling college out completely) to open up some more options. Try those career aptitude quizzes, try talking to people, but most of all try listening to yourself and what’s showing up in your life. Best of luck to you.
loading....
Alas, problem is knowing what you really want to do and not being able to get to do it, like in Italy. Waste of gifted, young minds in call centers and shitty temporary jobs.
loading....
Finding work you love can be easy, if you’re willing to be poor. I’m two years out of college right now, and I found a job that I love… for the time being. I get paid to write. Do I always write about things I’m interested in? No. But still – I get paid to write. I’d be doing writing anyway, so it’s nice to make a living doing it. However, the work I actually love is directing theater. I do that for fun in the evenings, and do not get paid for it outside of a small stipend. By working as a freelance writer, I may not be making as much as I could as a full-time copywriter, but this leaves me the freedom to do what I love… which happens to be a little bit of everything. And who knows, maybe one day my theater directing skills will be worth something.
Ultimately, though, I think everyone would be happy if he or she worked for him or herself. Being your own boss gives you the power to do what you love. And that’s most important in this short life of ours.
loading....
A job found me thatseemed tailor made for me. I say it found me because I set up a simple search in Craigslist in a few different local cities (and some far away) and added the RSS feeds for those searches to my reader.
If anyone posts anything with the words “podcast” or “pro tools” in any of those craigslist sites, I’m notified in my reader. I always have my resume ready to go, so it’s a simple process to fire off a resume in response to an ad that sinds me.
Simple, no?
loading....
Go to the library & check out “What Color is
My Parachute”, the “bible” of employment seekers.
Might also TRY various jobs on a part-time
basis, or even volunteer/intern part-time
while working your regular job.
The key is to SAMPLE other employment & you
just might fit the round peg in the round hole.
loading....
You can also take some tests (career/job) through a local college or employment agency. It helps give direction or at least some options you never thought of before. Along with that test is the Myers-Briggs test. Search for some of these online, there are lots out there.
I always knew I wanted to be an engineer, just like my grandfathers and my dad. My dad is a Mechanical, and I am Electrical.
loading....
My 23-year-old son has been blessed to find work he is passionate about. After graduating college with a degree in graphic communication, he decided to follow a dream. He apprenticed with a notable tattoo artist and is presently tattooing in a shop that he loves. He has an entrepreneurial flame in his heart that will eventually lead to him opening his own studio. He loves going to work everyday and makes terrific money. He is happy… because he followed his dream. He will be successful because he is willing to do the work!
loading....
To the person quoted in the post: Why not be a personal finance counselor? I don’t know what sort of certifications you need, but it’d be a great way to work with people and numbers as well as make a difference!
loading....
I stumbled into my niche. But I think that a big problem is that you often don’t know what’s possible. Before I read GRS, it never occurred to me that someone could even be a box salesman. Before I applied for the job I do now, I didn’t know it existed.
If you’re looking to change careers, you might find that really similar jobs in different industries make all the difference. A friend of mine switched from working in utilities to luxury goods manufacturing, both jobs use essentially the same skills for different results, but the second job is a much better fit than the first.
loading....
There’s another twist to this, which is that sometimes you “know” what you want to do in life, but once you actually get to do it for a living you discover that it’s not what you expected. That can be even harder than not knowing what you want to do.
When I was barely a teenager, I knew that my calling was environmental education. I had my whole life planned out, I would start out as a naturalist and eventually run my own nature center. My friends in school, most of whom had no idea what they wanted to do, envied me. But after I graduated from college and had my first few environmental education jobs, I started feeling disenchanted with the field; more importantly I felt like I didn’t have the talent for it that I thought I had. And it was awfully hard to make a living. My first fulltime environmental ed job paid $9,000 a year. Even today it’s not uncommon to find experienced naturalists making less than $25K a year. So in my mid-twenties I had to let go of my dreams and start over, in something related but different. When you spend a good chunk of your life working toward something and then discover that it’s not really what you wanted, it can be devastating.
loading....
There are no jobs doing what I want to do, only self-employment and entrepreneurship. But that takes money which I don’t have and can’t get.
loading....
Oh dear, as someone who has two very different college degrees (one in health care and the other in photography) I can relate to the struggle to find your passion. I still haven’t found mine, but I’m heading in the right direction. I know I want to work in health and wellness, just not doing what I have been.
I started a new blog today! Please, come visit: http://www.frugal-parents.blogspot.com
loading....
Same here, that’s why I’m going freelance soon. At my regular job I’m not paid much anyway… lol.
loading....
brad #8 makes a very good point.
One thing I’ve experienced is that sometimes your passions stop being passions once you’re being paid to do / perform them. Sounds strange, I know.
Some time ago, I became very passionate about practicing yoga. I absolutely loved everything about it and finally decided to start a teacher training program to become certified. Six months and a few thousand dollars later, I started teaching yoga and hated it, so much so that I started to lose interest in yoga altogether and haven’t practiced in years.
Thankfully, during that time I was still working as an engineer (as I am today). I’m definitely not passionate about it but it pays the bills (and then some).
Unfortunately, only a select few of us will be truly passionate about what we do for a living. Most of the rest of us will find passion in other areas of our lives and continue to work for a pay cheque but enjoy the evenings, weekends and maybe even enjoy the company of your co-workers to get us through the day.
loading....
Telly makes a great point, and I have found career inventories (such as Waves mentions)to be largely useless to me due to the fact that they all suggest one thing: I should be doing something with art. Now, I agree that my love of art and artistic endeavors is an essential part of my life, but to be paid for it would suck the joy right out of me. I enjoy painting, drawing, photography, and writing, but I find that deadlines and client expectations quash my creative mind, haha. I think that it’s important to try and integrate some of your personal loves into what you do. It’s not always easy, but it’s worth the effort and your employers will recognize your efforts and your approach to such tasks.
Beyond that issue though is one that I’ve found to be true in any industry I’ve worked in: If you like who you work with, almost any job can be enjoyable. I’d rather dig ditches with a great group of people than be the CEO of a company I hate that’s filled with coworkers I despise. Part of a job search, for me, is meeting the people I’m going to be working with and one question I always as in an interview is what the office environment is like.
loading....
Whilst few people maybe really passionate about their jobs, more can do something that they are good at, and that they mostly enjoy. Not every need has to be fulfilled by your job, but it helps if more than just money needs are.
I love my job, but I wouldn’t describe myself as passionate about it. It’s in a niche that I think adds value to society, it allows me to stretch myself intellectually, and it provides me with the opportunity to meet interesting people. It doesn’t define me, it’s not my life’s calling, and I wouldn’t do it for free.
One of the other things that I do is blog about personal finance, I love doing that as it allows me to be creative. I would do it for free if I had to. But (sorry J.D.) I would hate to do it for a job – that would make it un-fun for me.
loading....
“Freedom from the desire for an answer is essential to the understanding of a problem.” ~ J. Krishnamurti
The best things in life are rarely ones that were “planned.” Some of the greatest discoveries and inventions were “accidental.”
So how do we create a fertile environment for accidents? For me, it is education. Learning should not be about one narrow subject that you feel will provide all the answers. Choose a broad subject (I have a bias to philosophy) that will open your mind to ideas and opportunities and, hopefully, makes you “think.” Perhaps for someone else, it may be a masters in business.
In summary, we can not absolutely know where we will be five years from now. What we do TODAY is something that will give us OPTIONS tomorrow…
All you do is select the best path and the “accidents” will happen — life will come to you…
loading....
Y’know, finding work you love and finding a job you love don’t necessarily have to be the same thing. Some people would say you should never settle for anything less than the best, but I don’t see anything wrong with getting a tolerable job that pays the bills, and then pursuing your passions on the side. You can make a profit off of anything these days, especially since blogging allows anybody to be an expert on their favorite subject. If you’re lucky, someday your hobby may become your main source of income — but if not, it’s nice to have a safety net of the job you don’t love.
If you flat-out hate your job, well, that’s something else.
loading....
Great comments so far.
I think Brad has an excellent point. Sometimes you finally get the job you’ve always wanted only to find out it doesn’t really suit you. When I was younger, I thought I wanted to be a computer programmer. I did programming in grade school and high school, but didn’t pursue it in college. It became one of those “if only I’d done X” things.
Well, eventually I did do X. I took classes on nights and weekends until I’d earned the equivalent of a CS minor. (I didn’t actually earn one, but I took the classes that I would have needed.) Though I got good grades, even while taking the coursework, I could tell that this probably wasn’t going to be for me.
I found two programming jobs after I was done with classes. I spent a year programming computers. While I didn’t hate it, I did not love it. Part of the problem was that I wasn’t an especially good programmer. Another problem was that although I liked programming for an hour or two, I didn’t like doing it for eight hours (or more).
It hurt to realize that my dream job wasn’t so dreamy.
On the other hand, I also always thought I wanted to be a writer. (Of course, I actually thought I wanted to be a fantasy or science fiction writer…) For the past two years, I’ve been writing full-time on evenings and weekends. I love it. Sure there are times that I worry if blogging is right for me, but 95% of the time, I feel like this is my One True Calling. Even if the blog were to crumble around me, I have the confidence now that I could find a way to make my living while writing, and that I could like the work.
loading....
I’ve gone by the philosophy of doing what you like, not doing what you love. For me, the difference between work and hobbies is the obligation to do them. I don’t want to HAVE to do something I love, because I would grow to resent it. Picking something I mildly enjoy, but not enough to spend a lot of spare time on, gives me the best balance.
loading....
I found out I loved economic analysis when I was in high school and one of my professors taught it. He helped me learn about it, and I went to college for such a degree, and loved it, and went to grad school. While I’ve bopped around econ-related jobs while in the government, each has been a step to being a bonafide economist, which is where Im at today.
I liked solving puzzles, and I like math, so its a very good fit.
Pay ain’t half bad either.
loading....
I was very unsure of the ‘work’ I loved when I started college. I took calculus, psychology, and philosophy – among other things – my freshman year. I was struggling with depression, stopped going to many classes, lost my scholarships, and was probably in danger of flunking out.
Luckily, the associate dean of the college was advising students when I went to ask for help. She took me under her wing; I will forever be grateful to her, since I have no idea where I’d be if she had not pulled me up by my bootstraps.
She had me take the Strong Interest Inventory – a test akin to those Waves mentioned – and bring the results to her. It confirmed my uncertainty, saying I had Investigative, Artistic, and Enterprising (3 of six!) personality types.
We went over the example occupations listed for each group and determined that I was most interested in business/economics. At the time, I had no idea what economics _was_.
Because both intro to micro and macro economics were required for either a business or economics degree, I took them both over the summer. That is when my love affair with economics began. I enrolled in the 5-year B.S./M.A. dual degree program the economics department began to offer in my junior year.
I’m still working toward finding a job doing what I love. However, I have only tried two jobs (over 4 years). Though I currently only do it in my free time, the previous sentence hints at how I found work I love: I tried things.
loading....
Mildly enjoy? Uhm, doesn’t work for me. I’ve accepted enough compromise til now and I feel wasted. I want to feel like I’m fully using my intellectual potential.
loading....
For Shaun: How about trying a job in college financial aid? You probably couldn’t counsel people right away without a degree, but there’s a good chance you could finish up the needed requirements for a degree on the dime of your employer. Everything you described you love doing fits in with becoming a financial aid professional.
I agree with the “do what you like, not what you love” sentiment here. I know there’s not one job I would truly enjoy doing for 40 hours a week, because I have so many different loves and interests. So find the best you can, and absolutely try to work with a great group of people – the days go by much faster.
loading....
Unfortunately the things I would really like to do in life won’t pay squadoo (activism, social work, not-for-profit work). The other work I’ve pretty much known I wanted to do – be a mom – doesn’t pay much either, monetarily *G* I did become a massage therapist and loved that work, but due to my full-time job (and having no one to support me financially at the time), I couldn’t get my foot in the door at a spa and get established, and eventually gave it up. I regret that a bit now, but oh well, I guess. So I stay in a job I hate in the hopes that the money and benefits I bring in now will help me do what I believe I really want to do – not work a 9-5 desk job and instead work with my (future) children
loading....
Oh, J.D., why would you make a post like this on a Friday?
I don’t like my job, but, at age 29, I am encouraged because I feel like with each one I have, I learn more about what kind of job could make me happy. I’d like to share some things I have learned:
1. Discovering what you don’t want to do is important. If you take a job, hate it, and quit, you haven’t failed, you’ve just discovered something you don’t want to do.
2. Don’t take a job without a CLEAR understanding of what your duties are and what is expected of you.
3. Co-workers come and go. Your co-workers should never be the sole reason you leave a job or stay at a job.
4. Don’t take one job simply to escape another. I’ve seen this written elsewhere and can vouch for it from personal experience.
5. If you have a job you like (even a little) and that meets your needs, but you think you want something more “professional” or “grown up”…STOP!
loading....
Two books that have helped me in my career journey are “Now, Discover Your Strengths” by Marcus Buckingham and “Is Your Genius at Work?” by Dick Richards.
The first book addresses what your top talents are. Theoretically if you choose a job in an area that utilizes most or all of your talents you will be successful in that field – and you’ll enjoy it. If you purchase the book, you’ll be able to take a test that identifies your top strenghts
The second book works from the premise that we each have an area of “genius” and that if we work in our genius we’ll be satisfied and successful. The book takes you through a multitude of exercises to help you think through this. My husband figured his out quickly. I’m still working on mine, but I’ve learned a lot about myself in the process.
Both of these books have given me insight and direction as I decide on the next leg of my journey.
loading....
Shaun should watch The Persuit of Happyness . His description sounds exactly like the one in the movie describing Stock Brokers.
loading....
I think the big thing is that you have to know if you’re passionate about the *job* or the *subject*.
I got into accounting for money, but I really enjoyed my classes. Fast forward a couple years into a real job, and a few notable things come out… it doesn’t pay what my teachers said it would, and the clients are such a total mess that I wonder how half the businesses in town are still operational.
So you have to figure out what the actual job duties are of people in the actual job you want to have, not what the general skills are in a wide subject area. I have all the right skills they tell me I should need to be “in accounting”, but with two major problems: I have a serious aversion to working for large companies, and I have a serious problem cleaning up other people’s messes no matter how much I get paid to do it.
Those are massively important things to know. I’d suggest interviewing some people in the potential job you see yourself in. Find out how it actually goes. Find out what annoying things you’re going to have to deal with every day. Find out what real people doing the actual job in your area are getting paid for it. Then try to see if those things really fit what you want to get out of it.
loading....
Hi J.D. (and everyone),
Last year, I read an excellent book called “How to Find the Work You Love” (http://www.amazon.com/How-Find-Work-Love-Arkana/dp/0140195246). I highly recommend it.
It is a very enlightening book, with uplifting quotes from many in history. My favorite was:
“Where your talents and the need of the world cross, there lies your vocation” by Aristotle.
loading....
I always loved art since I could pick up a pencil but I hated the idea of having to do it for a living. In high school I took a graphic design class and loved it! I spent the rest of high school teaching myself how to design websites. I eventually graduated from a private design college and now I’m at a job that I love. I get to be creative every day but I can still enjoy my hobby of drawing & painting.
loading....
Perhaps it’s just me, but I think alot of people get sucked into looking for a job they love. It isn’t a requirement. You are at your job to get paid.
That being said I think you should have a job you at least like, but you should also be concerned about getting paid top dollar for your time. You can always do what you love as a hobby or on a part time basis.
Take me for example, I do engineering because I like it and it pays well. I leave my love of writing/editing/publishing as a hobby, because I know the pay can suck.
Just my thoughts,
Tim
loading....
Finding what you love is indeed hard. I myself have been struggling with figuring out what I want and when I want it since 1998. School has been slowly playing in the background only kind of successfully. The only classes I ever seem to do well in are my art classes.
I’ve been majoring in business out of fear that art wouldn’t land me a job I could survive with.
I don’t believe in going to school for someone else, and I have a bit of a hard time responding to authority, being told what to do and such.
I’m beginning to think that my own business is the answer. Entrepenuership. Take some courses to learn how to manage a small business, and use my background and skills to apply them towards this goal.
That way I will do something I enjoy and be my own boss.
I talked a little bit more on this here:
http://growingupeating.blogspot.com/2008/01/educated-guesses.html
loading....
i was fortunate. when i was eight years old my parents got us our first computer and i learned to program in BASIC. from that moment on i picked up things on my own, took classes when i could throughout middle school and high school; then went to college to pursue a degree in Computer Science and now i’m on a career track for a role in the software engineering chain at a small and growing software company.
i’ve always liked solving puzzles. in college i grew to like math and the processes used in figuring out complex problems; it was really hard, but i still really liked it. i think that’s why i stuck with it, i like the challenge.
for the last three years i’ve been doing developer support for my company and i’ve loved it. most people think i’m crazy, but i like talking to people. so my job for the last three years has been making friends that are programmers and helping them develop with our product. lately thought it’s been getting to me. supporting our product is largely the same deal for months at a time. we have new features but once you’ve got a solid handle on the product it doesn’t usually add much that’s difficult to handle. i had a chat about this with management and decided to apply for a tester position. i’ll be starting that next month and i’m really excited to be able to stay somewhere i love and try out something different (that people have told me that’s a lot of work but i’d probably be good at it).
so i was fortunate in finding out what i wanted to be when i grew up very early and had the presence of mind and will to follow through. and because of that perseverance and dedication i’m making almost twice what i was when i started in the professional world, i bought a house, and i’m well on my way to managing my debt away. i’m able to be so confident about that last part because of two things, my mom who was an accountant and has been teaching me prudent financial practices as long as i can remember, and this site. this site has helped me manage the debt that i have and be more mindful of how to make what money i have left work for my future. so thanks J.D.
loading....
I totally stumbled into my career as a banker. I was awful at math and algebra in school, and swore I wouldn’t take any quantitative undergrad classes outside of the required “math for idiots.”
Ten years later, I have an MBA in finance and work as a portfolio manager for a Fortune 500 company. The 20-year-old me would have laughed at the thought that I would work in the financial services industry, but I love what I do. I never, never would have landed here if I hadn’t taken a part time job as a teller nine years ago (The only reason I even applied for that job was that it was in the paper and I needed work – and I was tried of bartending and waiting tables).
I really like my job – it doesn’t bring me tons of joy, but it’s fulfilling and I get to work on project teams and build new products which I feel really help people.
The downside to finding a career you love the way that I did is that you have to start at the very bottom and work your way up. My first banking job paid $7.00 an hour (back in 1999). Now I make six figures – but it didn’t happen overnight.
loading....
I’m starting to believe in a different philosophy than “Find something you love and the money will follow”.
I think the best solution is actually to get a job doing something that will pay the bills. Then, once you are good enough at the job that it becomes easy, start using the extra time to learn about your passion. Don’t quit your day job, but start executing your passion in some way during your free time in the evenings and weekends. That way, as you spend the time it takes to be good enough at it that it could be a career, you will still be able to pay the bills and you’ll be inspired by the time you spend on your passion outside of work.
Worst case scenario, as long as you are intelligent about your finances, you will start to stock pile a source of passive income. Then down the road you can start to work less at your day to day job and spend more time on your passion, even if it doesn’t bring in any money.
loading....
The best way to find work that you love is to work. You learn what kind of job situations you like and which you do not.
Once you have a potential career in mind it is worthwhile to look at the classifieds to see plentiful jobs are in that career. Information interviews with professionals in that field are helpful too. You can learn how easy it is for them to make a living and you can learn what their daily professional lives are really like.
College tuition is expensive and every career path looks rosey at the level of an easy 101 introduction level course.
Doing these things before spending gobs of money on trying different classes/majors can save a lot of time and a lot of money.
Nobody cares if you start and finish college a few years late, even though to a kid out of high school it looks like a religious transgression
loading....
I am one of those people who always knew what they wanted to do. However, I lacked the confidence to follow that desire because of the pressure I got from my parents and people around me in general – nothing but negative feedback. It wasn’t until I was already in college when this lovely person (who I thank everyday) said to me “Why do you care what other people think? It’s YOUR life”. I changed my major that year and stuck it out even when my parents threatened to pull me out of school. I had to fight CONSTANTLY with them that I would be able to support myself once I got out. Little did I know my dad would dump a huge load of school loans on me when I got out (probably in revenge for not doing what he wanted me to do) after promising to pay for my degree.
The thing I wished I had learned was that sometimes you need to work a bill-paying job that has nothing to do with your passion – and the main consideration is the people you work with. Some of my favorite jobs were doing brainless manual labor – but the people I worked with were great and fun and made the time go by quickly. And it left me with the brain power to work on what I loved on my time off.
I think the point made about living on less money to allow you to follow your passion is also a good habit to have. I know I would have been a far happier person doing what I loved for less money than doing what I despise for more money – because all I do with that extra money is shop for stuff to take the place of the things I would rather be doing.
The biggest thing of all, and I wish I could teach this to every young person out there – don’t let anyone get in your way. My parents controlled the purse strings and kept me helpless for far to long and continually manipulated me into things I didn’t want. If your parents won’t agree to help you with your dream – go work and support yourself for a while, save as much money as you can (even if you have to have 8 roommates to do it) and then pay your own way! You’ll waste less time and have less heartache that way.
Even if you don’t know what you want to do, work anything that requires working with people directly so you can learn how to get along with other people. Learn how to network, how to keep acquaintances, how to walk away from aggressive people – all of this is more important than any job skill. I have found people skills are the MOST important skill – anything else can be learned from a book or manual. My years working in a Kinko’s are still the most valuable experience I ever had.
For people who are stuck in minimum wage jobs – I understand. For years I thought I would never get out. But you can turn that job into something that will help you move on. Give yourself challenges like, learn how to smile at everything even when you want to scream. Find ways to save money for the company you work for even if you don’t get rewarded – because you can brag about it on your resume! I turned a Kinko’s job into a graphic design career that way – and believe me I got flak for working there so long. You know what I would say to people? Having worked there I can handle anything. And you know what? It’s true. I have a great customer service voice, I learned to put myself in other people’s shoes, I learned how to prioritize my work so I could goof off the rest of my shift, I learned how to be super efficient, I learned how to deal with mean people, and it all went on my resume. Minimum wage jobs do suck – but you can learn a lot from them and you will be able to leave them if you keep applying yourself. Become the most admirable person you can be at work and people will notice. I got job offers just based on my personality. Also, depending on your field, it really doesn’t take much money to start a business – it’s takes knowledge. Use your local SBA (small business association) – They’re free!! You can get out of it – I did!!
One last happy note – I am finally able to pursue the work I love now, because I am lucky enough to have a husband who is reciprocating all the support I have given him for his dreams. We will be tight on money but you know what? I don’t care. I’ll have a roof over my head, clothes on my body, food on my table and time to really do all the things I love. I really don’t need an HDTV, a fancy car or any of that stuff. And I am so happy!
loading....
Check out the book ” 48 Days to the Work You Love: by Dan Miller and foreword by Dave Ramsey.
loading....
I think the days of working at a job for 20+ years until retirement are largely over. While I like some comfort and security, the thought of having my life mapped out makes me anxious–almost to the panic level. My generation, (I’m 33 now) has been inundated with technology since birth. Everything moves so fast–we’re accustomed to taking in a lot of information and processing it quickly. Is it any wonder we get bored doing the same ol’ same ol’ day after day? I’ve already switched careers 3 times. And none of them are related to the BFA in Graphic Design that I don’t use professionally (although it is a wonderful hobby.) For years I wondered what was wrong with me–I get burned out so quickly. After some soul searching, I realized that it’s okay to switch it up occasionally. Why not? Just don’t burn any bridges along the way or compromise the good work ethic. You learn so much about a lot of things and become quite worldly. If you know that your next job/career is not etched in stone, you feel much freer to do what you want. Maybe that’s the key to doing what you ‘love’, or something close to it.
loading....
I recommend a book I personally enjoyed reading book called ’48 Days to the work you love’ (48days.com)
Dan Miller (the author) takes you through a 48 day process that helps you find what you love doing and helps you find employment doing it.
* Not associated with Dan at all, just enjoyed the book.
loading....
Well, I’m an engineer. I work on software to automate vehicles. It’s very tough work, and it’s also very fulfilling. I sort of just fell into this work without really looking for it. I went to my college (Colorado School of Mines) because they didn’t require an entrance essay. My GPA in high school was third quartile, and I got in solely on my SAT scores and a recommendation from on of my teachers.
When I left CSM, I was frantically looking for a job. I was told by my mentor that I had to “kill for my first job” Which I interpreted mostly as rejecting the jobs I didn’t want. I found this job by asking a professor that had left CSM if he knew of any openings, and he passed my resume onto whom it may concern here, and they hired me. I interviewed at several places, got a few offers, but none that I would be excited to work for, so I turned them all down. When I got an offer from this engineering firm, I had a number in my head of how much salary I was willing to settle for to work in a job that I liked, and when I opened the offer, it was the highest one I had so far.
loading....
I love my job and I completely fell into it. I have a degree in marketing and international business from a very small state school. I moved 12 hours away from the area and started temping.
I temped with a company for two years before a crappy full time position opened up. I took it because I loved working at the company and I wanted to work for this boss. 6 months later he was shoved out and my department was eliminated. I was placed into a job encouraging our suppliers to be more sustainable and environmentally friendly. I get to travel, strategize, and make a difference. I work with great people. My biggest hint is find the right company and the right people, then find the right job in that company.
loading....
Another great book on this subject is “What Should I Do With My Life,” by Po Bronson.
You can read several sample chapters from the book at pobronson.com.
loading....
I think one of the biggest issues I have with doing what you love as a job is diminishing returns.
No matter how much you love doing an activity, do you really want to be doing it 40 hours per week, every week, week in and week out? Eventually it starts to wear on you, because though you love what you do, you are still obligated to be there. 40 hours is a lot of time to put in each and every week, how long until you tire of it?
Personally, I work in the Financial Services Industry. At first I wanted to be an advisor, helping people run their finances in a healthy way and guiding them to longterm wealth. Unfortunately that’s not really how the industry works, it’s based on how many overloaded funds you can pass on to a client to get your commission, it’s sales more than anything else.
I think for me the key is to have my income come from multiple sources, and I work towards that end. I do freelance writing, have my job during the day, invest and research dividend-paying stocks, fill out surveys, build websites to optimize in the search engine rankings to get ad revenue, etc. etc. If and when I can generate enough income through all these sources to quit my day job, I’d likely do it.
After all, my real passion is freedom
loading....
Shaun should consider becoming a bookkeeper. Small businesses and freelancers these days are more and more going towards independent bookkeepers — paying them for a few hours a week, rather than having someone in-house to do it all.
I’ve read a bit about this because it’s how I intend to slide out of my current full-time job eventually. Shaun could even start taking on clients while he’s still driving, both to see if he really likes it, and to be sure he’ll have some income if he eventually quits driving.
You don’t need a degree to be a bookkeeper and it involves the qualities he’s looking for — working with people and numbers. Buy some books on Amazon and learn the lingo, and get comfy with some software like Quicken, etc.
Good luck, Shaun, whatever you do!
loading....
It’s time to think out of the box here:
“Do it for the money and the love will follow.”
It’s a rare person who finds the job/career of his/her dreams. And if they do, they get bored with it after a while. Years ago, I decided to ditch the work I loved (a low-paid journalist) and went into sales. Was it scary? Yes. Was it profitable? Very. Paid off all debts (including my house), stuffed maximum amounts of retirement money away so now it is snowballing on its own (thanks to compound interest). I burned out in sales and now work as a “get-every-holiday-off, don’t-work-too-hard” government worker. My sales money helped me make the transition. Yes, what I do is just a “job.” But I get my self-worth and joy from hobbies, interaction with friends, caring for my aging parents and a desire to visit every country in Europe (which is possible thanks to ample time off and no debt). My advice is, don’t get a career, get a life.
loading....
How to find work that you love? The answer to that could be as simple as going back to your childhood and recalling some of your most happiest memories – what was fun for you?
For myself, I played store in our basement w/my siblings & neighbor kids. I was in charge of the cash register & the displays with dolls and toys and cars/trucks, so when I was in my 30′s, I opened up a large gift store in a tourist town. I literally lived up to my potential running the store, and was very proud of its beauty, and treating the customers well, and I have to say that whenever I was running around in that store, and especially using the cash register, I could not get the smile off my face because inside, I felt like I was 10 years old “playing.” I got to go through a second childhood, or a happy aspect of it, and earn a living too.
And so that’s what I would recommend — making a list of some of your happiest childhood memories.
loading....
I have just tried to look for good opportunites wherever I am working and aim to change roles and hopefully get a somewhat better job (and raise) every 2 years. And I would consider myself pretty happy with my career and job.
I think it takes time and experimentation to find the right job you will be happy in, but your wants/needs also change over time too. I do things now that 10 years ago I never thought I would want to be doing. (sitting at a computer all day typing for example)
If you have a great family business to go into or parents that drive your schooling and pay for an ivy league college you won’t be in this situation, but the rest of us (the majority) have to study hard, keep learning every year as an adult (new technology), keep our eyes open as to what the economy and our companys need and how we can leverage that to do something we like and feel that we are good at.
Sometimes I get a feeling a few years out of “hey I could do that” when I see a new role at work and within a few years of working toward it I am doing that.
It’s good to have enough money set aside so that you can take time to get extra training or wait while you get experience first before getting that great new job. If you are in a desperate situation you will most likley make desperate decisions about work and money and probably not be happy.
I have a theory that if more people owned their homes and didn’t have to worry about health care insurance they would tell bad bosses, bad employers and jobs they hate to “shove it” a lot more often. You’re a different person when you aren’t owned by the bank or beholden to your employer.
Thanks for the great posts, I really enjoy reading this blog daily
loading....
I think so many of us struggle with this concept of finding a job that really makes us want to get out of bed in the morning. And, like others have said, I think what motivates us in our 20s might not keep us going in our 40s or 50s. I am in the process of transitioning to new work that is my passion (celiac/gluten intolerance awareness and education-97% of affected individuals remain undiagnosed and, therefore, suffering with unresolved health issues that they have no idea are related to gluten). And, I am doing this transition while easing into retirement from my daily job of technical writing/editing. A year ago (while on a Christmas pleasure vacation) I read a book by Barbara Winter called Making a Living Without a Job: Winning Ways for Creating the Work You Love.
http://www.amazon.com/Making-Living-Without-Job-Creating/dp/0553371657/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200067864&sr=1-1
It is easy to read and very inspiring with simple concepts and exercises you do as you read the book (and you actually want to do the exercises, not skip over them) and actual success stories from folks. Since then I’ve subscribed to her newsletter and participated in several of her teleclasses. All of them have been fantastic! They are all full of fresh, simple ideas that anyone can implement. (I am not associated with Barbara Winter in any way—just a big fan.) I truly can’t believe how far I’ve come in one year. I lead a local smaller celiac/gluten intolerance support group and I belong to another larger group where I write/edit for the quarterly newsletter, support national programs, etc. I have been speaking publicly to small groups and will be speaking at a Women’s Forum attended by hundreds in March. I am getting travel articles with a gluten-free perspective published. My support group is growing leaps and bounds, meaning many more people are being helped. Now most of the things I have done to date have generated little or no income. But again individuals are being helped, and part of that is due to the minimal time I have had to allot to the effort due to my regular job. Even that factor is due to change as the success I am having has given me new confidence to move forward in all areas of my life to devote more time to my passion. For one thing, I changed jobs within my company two months ago and was able to transition from 5 days/40 hours a week to 4 days/32 hours a week at the same salary with full benefits. So in effect I got a pay raise (if you consider hourly rate) and now have a day off to pursue my new future. Previously, I would never have considered that such a schedule could be an option. Now I am looking at life differently and negotiating my needs better. The future is very exciting for me and as cliché as it sounds, I will be able to make a difference by fulfilling my new aspirations. Oh, last note, I do think the comments about thinking you want to do something and finding out it’s not your dream job and the dream job becoming far less than that when getting paid for it are valid ones. One thing that Barbara Winter emphasizes is creating multiple streams of income and being open to different paths as they present themselves. She says that statistics show even with being an entrepreneur, usually what you start out moving towards is not exactly what you end up doing. I am fine with that … I figure if I go down a different path, it will be because I found it to be more meaningful in helping others, fulfilling or exciting to me personally, or lucrative (or maybe all of the above!).
Best to all,
Shirley
loading....